ARI MELBER (HOST): Donald Trump knows transactional relationships, he went on to hire or talk about hiring numerous Fox personalities, and some of those whom Trump has not hired are actually the most influential.
Consider Sean Hannity, often called a “shadow chief of staff,” who first recommended this news tonight, first pushing the hiring of Bill Shine, Hannity even arranging private meetings for them at Mar-A-Lago, and then he used his own show to push this idea forward.
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MELBER: What? “It's none of your business.” That's Sean Hannity telling his own audience that his inside information isn't theirs to hear, a confession that he will literally keep secrets for his political allies, out of an apparent loyalty against the interests of his audience, just like he kept it a secret that he was retaining Trump lawyer Michael Cohen as his own lawyer.
Now, Shine clearly in better graces with Trump than Michael Cohen tonight, even though the hire is also controversial, given significant criticism that Bill Shine did not do enough to address sexual harassment claims against Fox hosts, issues that led to the ousting of Bill O'Reilly, Roger Ailes and then Shine himself.
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SAM SEDER: If you watch Fox for a day, you will hear none of what the rest of the world essentially is reporting about the Trump administration.
